Occasionally Offensive

Category: Book Review

The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst While the era of the western novel may have come and gone, this book, which came out in 2016, proves that high fantasy is still going strong. It has all the elements of an archetype of this trope: magic, queens, men with swords and armor, danger, a …

Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch This is the first time I have ever read a space opera in which some of the scenes take place on derelict abandoned space ships. What a cool concept. Instead of all the foreign alien stuff taking place on a planet’s surface, it takes place within ships …

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance I can see why this book hit the bestseller list. It really hits the zeitgeist of this tumultuous past few years we’ve had, especially with regards to the questions of middle America and how to achieve the “American Dream.” It also …

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders I went through a long phase where I pretty much only read books like this, pop science books about ordinary subjects. It’s a pretty good example of that subgenre. It’s just sophisticated enough to let the average reader know that the author …

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty The Memory of Running There’s a point in this book where the principal character describes the hot dogs he has eaten. He has spent all his money on hot dogs and eaten them and while he reflects that hot dogs are not good food, they feel like they …